GOD wins Donear Suitings

The company plans an ad spend of Rs 13-15 crore for this fiscal; the figure has almost doubled from the spends of last year, which were in the region of Rs 6-7 crore

Donear Suitings, the & #BANNER1 & # fashion fabric brand, has awarded the corporate and creative duties for its sub-brands to the Mumbai based communications agency, Gang of Designers (GOD). The company has planned an ad spend of Rs 13-15 crore for this fiscal, as compared to last year's budget of Rs 6-7 crore.

GOD has already been handling the creative duties for Ferrino Mizzoni, an Italian brand marketed by Donear in India, for a month now. The TVC for Ferrino Mizzoni will be on air in the next seven-10 days. And now it has been put in charge of the corporate advertising duties for Donear as well as all the communication for each of the sub-brands under the Donear umbrella.

Ferrino Mizzoni was launched in the Indian market in 2005, and the TVC that is to be released soon is the second one; the first one was released in 2005 to inform the Indian market of the brand's arrival. As far as the advertising for Donear goes, a series of commercials were released at the end of 2005 for its sub-brand, Soft & Smooth. The commercials were ideated by Mudra and are on air even now, though their frequency across various channels is minimal.

GOD won the business following a multi-agency pitch against two agencies, the names of which could not be ascertained. This is the first time Donear has appointed a creative agency on a retainership basis; prior to this, it has had associations with agencies such as Contract Advertising, Percept H and Mudra on a project basis.

Aakash Mishra, manager, advertising and corporate communications, says, "The immediate need for the brand is to be given a clear and distinct positioning, which has been missing till now. The agency's mandate will be to establish the brand in the consumer's mind, which has till date been more of a name in the trade."

Donear is broadly into two types of fabric markets for suitings, poly viscose (PV) and poly wool (PW). The brand faces competition from Siyaram's in the PV category. Ferrino Mizzoni (a PW product) has competitors such as Raymond's, J Hampstead and Reid & Taylor.

Only 10 per cent of the textile market in India is organised. The unorganised sector still holds a maximum share - there are reportedly 3,850 brands in the market. Out of the total percentage of the organised market, Siyaram's leads the PV market with a 1.5 per cent share, followed by the 1 per cent share held by Donear. Raymond's is the top-of-the-mind recall brand in the PW segment.

Television will be used as the primary medium for the brand's communication. Below-the-line activities, print and outdoor will also be looked at in addition to new media. Mishra confirms, "We are not ruling out celebrity endorsement for the brand, and a decision on that is pending."